Boldin looking for ways to counteract possible brain damage

Posted by Mike Florio on May 20, 2012, 7:30 PM EST

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As more concerns emerge regarding the potential link between concussions and long-term brain problems, players undoubtedly will be taking more steps not only to avoid head trauma, but to figure out how to counter its potential consequences.

Ravens receiver Anquan Boldin, who never has shied away from contact in any form during his nine full NFL seasons, says he’s looking for ways to protect and preserve his long-term brain function.

Boldin, who says he has suffered only one concussion (and what a concussion it was), said that a doctor has suggested that a hyperbaric chamber could protect against long-term brain problems for persons who have suffered multiple concussions.

Look for other players to try to find other ways to help themselves. Here’s hoping that, in time, research will lead to effective strategies for helping players stay healthy after they’re done playing.

How about you start wearing the top of the line helmet that protects the brains so much better than the standard issue helmets they use now? How about the League start requiring those helmets and fining anyone who doesn’t wear them? Will save them many millions when the current crop of players retire if they can testify in court that they required the players to use top of the line safety equipment and those that didn’t were in violation of company policy and so, ‘you can’t blame us is they got hurt’.

txtuff says:May 20, 2012 10:09 PM

The soft helmet theory will not work, sure they may try to ovoid helmet to helmet hits but will make it worse with the whiplash head hitting the ground! And that’s how most knockouts on the football field happen, back of helmet against the ground.

krabballs says:
May 20, 2012 11:06 PM
Why are 95% of the people who post on this site complete and total idiots? One piece of advice to the morons who write here: if you want to say something stupid, at least make it funny.

Totally agree and to add..99 percent of the PFT censors are idiots for posting it

mark0226 says:May 21, 2012 12:26 AM

Isn’t this something the NFL or NFLPA should be doing? Instead of showing faux concern by fining players more and more and now suspending players, coaches and GM’s, perhaps they should do a little research to find ways to help players counteract the toll the NFL takes on the players bodies.

The laws of physics demonstrate that no helmet will ever prevent concussions. Regardless of what the player is wearing on his head, as soon as the impact occurs, his brain will start sloshing around and colliding with the skull. Those collisions with the skull cause damage to the brain. There is no way around it.

I agree that helmets should be improved as new technology develops, but they will never be a cure-all or anything close to it.

patsaintsbroncoscheat says:May 21, 2012 1:24 AM

@krabbalss-WOW your comment is so funny, insightful, and profound. It really made me stop and think…..he is right.

brewdogg says:May 21, 2012 1:36 AM

The irony here is that career backups actually make out the best in the grand scheme of things. they still get millions of dollars without having to do the kinds of menial work most of us do, have the best seats in the house on gameday, do not have people hounding them every time they go out in public, and emerge from the whole thing relatively healthy by comparison.

Cheers for the long snappers, the smartest men in professional football!!!

tombradyallday says:May 21, 2012 1:37 AM

that hit boldin took against the jets was vicious remember that clearly. hated to see that cuz he was playing well that game with cardinals

mwindle1973 says:May 21, 2012 6:25 AM

At first I thought soft helmets and improved equipment would help. But the more I learned about the subject the more I realized the equipment is what is causing the problem. The more the helmet absorbs the force of the hit, the harder the player will hit. Better helmets will lead to more and harder hitting and less fear of injury thereby leading to more frequent and more traumatic injuries. Actually removing the helmets would be the way to reduce injury as odd as it sounds. I think that breakaway helmets could help. Meaning helmets that breakup if hit with a certain amount of force. Much like cars are built with crumple zones now so they will bend up in an accident instead of being thrown around and rolling, etc. When the car crumples it disperses a great deal of the force. Same concept is behind the way a windshield shatters instead of breaking into a thousand pieces. It’s designed to shatter at a force lower than required to break it. A helmet that broke up in some way upon a hit of a particular force would disperse force instead of absorbing it like a soft helmet. So you thereby move the force of the blow away from the head and also do not induce players to hit harder. But honestly I think it’s all a band-aid on a gunshot wound. It’s a violent sport and dangerous by nature, there is not much that can change that short of changing the sport itself.